The year 1996 was a fairly uneventful year. This limited change can be attributed to the fact that no really important monetary or fiscal policies were undertaken within the year. The economy was in the middle of a ten year expansion; a business cycle that started March 1991, and ended in March 2001. The average growth rate of GDP for the year was 3.5%, which is exactly the average growth rate of GDP over the last 30 years. 1996's GDP growth rate fell between 1995 and 1997's growth rates of 2.6% and 4.3%.
Throughout the year, the unemployment rate remained quite steady at 5.5%, with a couple of months slightly lower. This rate was almost exactly the same as 1995, but in 1997 the rate dropped to 4.8%. The inflation rate remained passive at 2.9%. This rate is comparable to the year before of 2.8%, and the year after of 2.3%.
As 1996 began, the economy simply continued on its merry way. Over the course of the year, very little changed. As the year came to an end, it seemed that the economy planned to keep doing the same thing it had for years to come.